People often visit various venues in groups. For example, parents may take their children to a store to go shopping, a group of friends may attend a performance together, or a tour group may fly out of an airport on the same flight. Oftentimes, these groups may decide to split up or otherwise become separated from one another.
However, in some scenarios, traditional communications using mobile phones may be inadequate to find separated group members. Inside some venues, mobile phone networks may be of poor quality due to interference caused by the structure of the venue and/or the mobile phone networks being overloaded with too many subscribers. Further, if the group includes children, not every group member may carry a mobile phone. Further still, in some scenarios, a group member may lose their mobile phone or the mobile phone may run out of battery. Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for locating group members.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.